


Too tight hugs and reheated pizza.

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), The Tournament (2009)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Male-Female Friendship, Mostly Fluff, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-09
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-31 05:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12674949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: Some films bring back bad memories, even if you are asleep during them.





	Too tight hugs and reheated pizza.

Belle had picked the film for tonight. She’d had a hankering for Marvel films recently and since Joseph had never seen any of them she’d suggested Thor as a good starting point. She wasn’t sure MCU would be his thing, he tended to favour Westerns and Ealing comedies, but he was willing to give it a go.

Joseph had been on edge all week. When Belle had asked what was wrong he’d blamed the fireworks for keeping him awake at night. She could understand that, the run-up to Bonfire Night had been marked by the usual enthusiastic burst of fireworks every night. It had settled down mostly since the fifth had come and gone, but there were still some bangs and booms at night, and there would be until New Year’s if last year was anything to go by.

For the first time in quite a while Joseph took a few nips from his flask as they watched the film and ate pizza. Belle tried not to judge his drinking, but she worried for him, so she was pleased when he left the flask on the table and snuggled into her side. They had been cuddling on the couch since her disastrous date with Ryan, it was nice to have friendly affection without constantly worrying that there would be wandering hands, or an expectation that simple cuddles weren't enough.

About half way through the film Joseph’s breathing relaxed and Belle realized that he’d fallen asleep. She looked around for the remote and found it out of reach on the far end of the couch, still if Joseph was tired enough to fall asleep during the film the volume couldn’t be loud enough to disturb him. She rethought that when one of the big fight scenes started and he began twitching in his sleep. At first it wasn’t too bad, kinda like having a dreaming dog on your lap, but as his dream progressed he was flinching more and more. Belle was ready to wake him when he wrapped his arms around her middle and squeezed tight as he whimpered. With his arms around her ribs she couldn’t draw a full breath and felt a panic attack of her own building.

“Joseph! Joseph, wake up!”

She wasn’t sure he’d heard her, but she hissed in pain as his grip increased. She grabbed his shoulders and shoved hard. Joseph tumbled off the couch onto the floor, narrowly missing banging his head on the coffee table.

“Whatha! Belle? What are…”

He shook his head to dispel the remnants of his dream and focused on her as she dragged in a few deep breaths.

“Belle what happened?”

She could hear the panic in his voice, but she couldn’t deal with his stress until she was calmer. She rolled off the couch and found the bottle of Pepsi that had come with their take-out. They hadn’t opened it because she’d had tea and he’d had his whiskey. She all but threw it at him; “Drink. Joseph, drink you need it.”

He did as he was told as she stood in the emptiest part of the lounge and took a few slow breaths to centre herself. Joseph was chuging the cola so fast he was slopping as much down his chin as he was getting in his mouth. Belle sat down on the edge of the coffee table and eased the bottle from his grasp. She took a few sips and finally felt able to sort this out. Joseph was still on his knees looking at her with a mix of fear and concern.

“You fell asleep, and you had a bad dream.”

He nodded slowly; “The Tournament.”

Belle nodded, she’d figured as much. She’d been in Middlesbrough a week or so when all hell broke loose. Joseph had told her some of his experiences once they became friends, but he kept most of it to himself.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Joseph quickly shook his head, and Belle couldn’t help but feel relieved. She’d gathered that he’d had much worse time than she’d had during that madness, but as much as she wanted to help her friend she wasn’t sure that she could cope with hearing the details. He looked at her with watery eyes; “Did I hurt you?”

“No, just squeezed me too tight. Did I hurt you when I shoved you on the floor?”

He blinked in confusion and looked surprised, as if he hadn’t noticed that he was on the floor until she’d mentioned it. He rubbed a hand across the scruff on his chin and gave her a shrug; “No, I’m good, I think.”

Another explosion sounded from the forgotten film. Joseph grabbed the remote and prodded the stop button on his second attempt.

“I’m not sure Thor is really my thing. Sorry Belle.”

She managed a chuckle, “Yeah, I’m not in the mood for it now either,” – she glanced at the clock and a grin spread across her face, - “How about we warm the pizza up and we can catch the second half of the footie instead?”

Joseph groaned and rolled his eyes, but nodded; “Aye why not? But please, no dancing if Rangers lose?”

Belle gathered up the pizza with a smirk; “Not gonna promise that, Padre, you better hope they win or I’ll be making you dance with me.”

Tomorrow they would talk about panic attacks and bad dreams, but for tonight there was pizza to eat, football to shout at and cuddles to share. Joseph’s flask stayed on the table untouched until the morning and he dragged Belle up to dance when Rangers won the match.


End file.
